James was named Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year recently and he admittedly said that Durant is the single motivation he has to be the best player he can be.

"I know there is someone, somewhere, trying to take my spot," James said in SI. "And I know where he is, too. He's in Oklahoma. He's my inspiration because I see the direction he's headed, and it's the same direction I'm headed. I know his mind-set, and he knows mine. It's a collision course. We're driving one another."

Though they see nothing wrong with their budding friendship, according to Durant, people on the outside looking in wish the two stars hated each other.

Durant shared his reaction to James' comments and spoke on the people who want them to hate each other after practice on Thursday.

"Well, I really appreciate that comment because people want us to hate each other so bad. That's true. People want us to hate each other," Durant said with a smile. "I really respect him and I really compete against him hard - him and Kobe (Bryant). I play against those guys, they're the guys who I'm looking at, who I want to get to, and I compete against those guys really, really hard, but we're friends. We're friends, everybody knows that. Once you get on that court and you're playing against one of your friends, you play to win no matter what. Sometimes he might get the best of you, I might get the best of him one time. But I really respect him (James) and that's cool that he thinks of me that way and I've just got to keep working hard to continue to get better."